The Hellertown Planning Commission moved forward with several key items during its Wednesday meeting, granting approval for a new health care facility while fielding questions from neighbors about an existing apartment development.
The commission unanimously approved the site plan for St. Luke’s University Health Network to convert the former Rite Aid store at 110 Main Street into a medical office. The Rite Aid closed in June 2025.
Jennifer Peters, senior director of real estate for St. Luke’s, told the commission the facility will house the health network’s Saucon Valley Family Practice, now located on Front Street, along with an outpatient lab and CareNow urgent care services.
“We are very excited about this property, Peters said. “The primary focus was to find a new home for the Saucon Valley Family Practice… It’s a very well-established practice. There are five physicians there.”
“They are bursting at the seams,” she later added. “Basically, they need more space. That’s been a primary driver for us when we went down the road in choosing this facility.”
No final decision has been made about the Front Street property, but it’s “possible we may sell it or lease it,” Peters said.
The former Rite Aid in Hellertown borough could be converted into medical offices if plans submitted by St. Luke’s University Health Network receive final approval.
The Main Street facility will have seven providers and 14 total staff members. CareNow urgent care would have extended evening hours until about 8 p.m.
Peters emphasized the site’s existing traffic flow would remain unchanged, though the pharmacy drive-through structure on the western side would be removed to create additional parking.
Commission member Larry O’Donnell raised concerns about potential cut-through traffic in the rear parking area. Peters agreed that the addition of signage would be useful in that regard.
The commission granted conditional approval based on borough engineer Bryan Smith’s Nov. 7 review letter, which noted requirements for sewage planning, water authority sign-off and the replacement of dead shrubs around the property’s perimeter.
Neighbors Raise Concerns About Linden Street Development
The meeting’s most contentious discussion came during public comment, when residents voiced frustrations about an apartment conversion at 330 Linden Avenue in Hellertown.
Resident Doreen Burns told the commission a trash enclosure was installed six inches from her garage at 1106 Easton Road.
“Our understanding was that it was to be approved on the north side of the parking lot, but somehow it got changed and now it is approved for the south part of the parking lot,” Burns said.
“The problem is, we can’t maintain that side of the garage,” Burns said.
Her husband John Burns cited borough ordinances: “You cannot have a two-yard dumpster within 10 feet of an adjoining property. The way it’s set up now, they’re like seven feet away. And according to the by-laws, if there’s two dumpsters there in a commercial (property), they have to be 15 feet away from an adjoining property.”
April Gallagher of Easton Road raised concerns about water drainage from the property’s parking lot.
“When it was a warehouse, they had a nice little ramp there. It was a baseball-bat warehouse; they would back the truck up and do their work in there,” she said. “Once they removed that, they re-leveled the parking spots back there, but the grading of that parking lot now grades into our yard.”
“We’ve lived there for 20 years and never have we ever had the amount of water after rain that we do this year, to the point where it has come into our yard, up to our garage and come into our garage,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher said she received estimates of about $14,000 for a French drain and over $30,000 to build a retaining wall. She asked why she and her husband should pay when they never had problems until the property’s loading ramp was removed.
Gallagher said new lighting on the property is excessive. “Once those lights come on, it’s stadium lighting,” she said.
Commission members and borough officials said the complaints would be investigated.
“If they did it wrong, then the borough has authority to make them do it the right way, whether that’s moving it or doing whatever needs to be done to make it comply,” borough solicitor Michael Corriere said.
The planning commission has a vacancy. To apply to fill it, interested residents can submit their names and qualifications to the borough office.
The next planning commission meeting is set for Tuesday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at Borough Hall.